


Methodology

by Rhiannon87



Category: Final Fantasy XII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-05
Updated: 2011-12-05
Packaged: 2017-10-26 23:16:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/288968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhiannon87/pseuds/Rhiannon87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He may be mad, but there's method in his madness. There nearly always is method in madness. It's what drives men mad, being methodical. – G.K. Chesterton</p>
            </blockquote>





	Methodology

**Author's Note:**

> This was written at least three years ago. Remarkably, my favorable opinion of it has held up reasonably well.

He is, above all else, a scientist.

The world is a vast mystery, just waiting to be solved. The unanswered questions of magic and the gods intrigue him the most. He refuses to accept that there are things beyond the understanding and control of men. All that is required is the will to uncover them, and the secrets of the universe can be his.

He understands his wife and his son, or so he tells himself. He’s so proud of his son, his bright Ffamran, whose heart lies outside the laboratory. His son has a different kind of brilliance, the kind one needs to understand both machines and people. His son, he tells his co-workers at the labs, is going to be an admiral in the Archadian air fleet.

But he is a scientist, and when in his studies he uncovers this thing called nethicite, this so-called gift from the gods, he must study it. He must understand it. And so he leaves his wife and his brilliant son, and goes south. The journey is a difficult one, but not impossible. It is an opportunity to see how magic acts through all things, how the creatures of the world use its powers differently than men. An opportunity to learn, and to understand.

Then he reaches Giruvegan, and he cannot understand what happens there.

There is power here, ancient power and magic beyond all comprehension. But he will not admit such a thing. There is nothing that cannot be comprehended. He simply must work harder, study it further. Everything has an order, a logic, a reason to it. But the laws of nature and magic seem to break down in that place, and he fears that he will admit defeat in the face of the gods.

Venat saves him. A god who forswore his power, who had enough faith in mankind to let them control their own fates. Venat tells him of the ancient magic contained within the nethicite, and of the power it could grant him. But he is not concerned with power. He simply wants to learn.

He and Venat leave that place together and return to Archades. He speaks to Lord Vayne of his plans, of the nethicite, and the future Emperor seems intrigued. He knows that Vayne only wants power, and he accepts that. Not all men are scientists. Besides, what good is the understanding of something if one cannot then use it?

Vayne tells him they will seek out the nethicite. So he builds airships, and weapons. His favorite is the Bahamut, though it will take years to complete. His wife takes her life, and he understands why. Or so he tells himself. His brilliant son will be wasted in the fleet; besides, with war brewing, it would be far too dangerous to risk the life of the Bunansa heir. So he makes his son a Judge, and Vayne promises that he will be a magister within five years time.

Within three years of his return from Giruvegan, Ffamran has run away. And he thinks he understands why. His son, like Vayne, desired power, yet he refused to give it to him right away. He thinks that if he had shared the power of the nethicite sooner, his son would have stayed. But his son has vanished, and his brilliance with people allows him to hide. So he turns his attentions to Vayne, and shares the secrets of power with him, so that he will not stray, too.

And so Vayne conquers nations for him. Landis yields nothing, as he suspected it would. The rulers of Landis have no ties to the Dynast-King, the man who cowered before the gods and accepted the scraps they threw to him. Nabradia is far more successful. Venat whispers of untold power as he holds the nethicite in his hands, at long last. Vayne’s war machine continues on to Dalmasca, but no one can seem to locate the other two stones.

It takes two years for him to acquire another stone, this one brought to him by the exiled Dalmascan Princess. The third slips through his grasp mere weeks later, thanks to Ghis's foolishness. But he does not doubt that he will acquire the final stone soon. It seems they work best when linked, and he wants to understand the full depth of their power.

It's over a month later when the Princess finally arrives, bringing with her a longing for nethicite and his son. Ffamran has grown, but not changed: he's ever the impetuous boy, taunting and mocking him as they fire guns at each other. He watches his son, and he thinks he understands why he follows the Princess. Base reasons, really; greed, for a ransom and the stones, and perhaps lust, for his son's eyes are ever on the Princess. He tells her to go to Giruvegan, knowing his son will follow, and he hopes one of them will understand as he did.

He tracks them, and knows that the Princess has gained a new blade and new orders from the gods. He follows them to Ridorana, and sees yet another Judge fail in his sworn duty. He thinks that the Princess finally understands, that she must cast off the will of the gods. But she does not, nor does his son. Ffamran, for all his brilliance, cannot understand that he walked this path willingly. His son, his failure, the one who should have understood best. They battle again, himself and his son and the Princess, and yet though he is aided by Venat and Famfrit, something goes wrong. Famfrit fails him, and Venat's powers cannot save him.

He is dying. And he does not understand why.

His son approaches; Venat tries to defend him to the last. He lets Venat go, and looks at his son. His brilliant son, who seems to pity him now, at the end. He realizes, now, that he never understood his son, for greed and lust alone would not drive him to kill his own father. He smiles at Ffamran, his brilliant failure sky pirate of a son, and tells him to run.

His spirit begins to drift and join with the Mist. Perhaps this will be the knowledge he sought, the thing that leads him to true understanding.

He is, after all, a scientist.


End file.
